The DOJ's Lawsuit Against Apple

The US Department of Justice recently filed an antitrust lawsuit against Apple, accusing the company of using its control over the iPhone ecosystem to limit competition.

For most people, that's just another headline.

For developers building on the web, it's something we've been talking about for years.

Why I care

Melodic Mind started as a collection of Progressive Web Apps.

The idea was simple: build once, make it available everywhere.

Android.

Windows.

macOS.

Linux.

iPhone.

In theory, the web makes that possible.

In practice, iOS has always been the outlier.

Over the years I've had to work around limitations that don't exist on other platforms.

Things like:

• Audio stopping when the screen turns off.
• No background audio support for web apps.
• Limited control over audio behavior while recording.
• Browser bugs that can take years to be fixed.
• Every browser on iOS being required to use the same underlying browser engine.

None of these problems are impossible to solve.

But every hour spent working around platform limitations is an hour I'm not investing into the other million things that I need to do.

What the lawsuit is about

The DOJ argues that Apple has used its position in the smartphone market to make competing products and technologies less attractive.

The complaint covers several areas, including messaging, digital wallets, smartwatches, cloud gaming and so-called "super apps."

Whether the courts ultimately agree is something we'll have to wait and see.

But I do think it's an important conversation.

It's damn important

The easier it is for developers to build software that works everywhere, the more innovation users get.

That's especially important for small teams.

Melodic Mind isn't backed by hundreds of engineers.

Every improvement I make has to count.

The web allows small developers to compete with much larger companies, and I think that's one of its greatest strengths.

Looking ahead

I don't know how this lawsuit will end.

But I hope it leads to a future where developers can build great applications without having to treat one platform completely differently from every other one.

Until then, I'll keep building.

The goal hasn't changed.

I want to make it as easy as possible for anyone, on any device, to connect with music.